


Comfort

by rainier_day



Series: The Procession [3]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Gen, M/M, Temporary Character Death, widomauk2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-08
Updated: 2019-06-08
Packaged: 2020-04-12 16:06:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19135474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rainier_day/pseuds/rainier_day
Summary: The first time Caleb notices Mollymauk’s tail is when they’re camping out one night. He’s rising to take his turn on watch when something wraps around his ankle, neatly sending him face first to the ground.





	Comfort

**Author's Note:**

> Day 6: Sleepy intimacies

The first time Caleb notices Mollymauk’s tail is when they’re camping out one night. He’s rising to take his turn on watch when something wraps around his ankle, neatly sending him face first to the ground.

Turning back, with the help of the campfire, it’s easy to see what snagged his foot: Mollymauk Tealeaf.

Or, more specifically, his tail.

Looking a little closer, he sees that the owner it’s attached to is still fast asleep if the rhythmic breathing is anything to go by. Carefully unwrapping the appendage from his foot, he makes his way over to Yasha to relieve her of her duty. “Sorry, Mollymauk’s tail got in the way,” he explains with an offhanded gesture.

She smiles and nods like that made perfect sense. But then, being so close to Molly, it probably does to her and Caleb is in no way envious. “It does that. It has a mind of its own sometimes.”

He takes a seat by the campfire and idly scratches Frumpkin behind the ear as he watches Yasha return to her spot next to the tiefling. As she lies down, Caleb thinks he can see Molly’s tail slithering over and wrapping around her arm. It doesn’t pull her closer or seem to make her uncomfortable, merely wrapped there like a boat secured to the docks.

“Oh,” he mutters to his cat in amusement. “Like a teddy bear.”

\--

Caleb gets used to Molly’s tail when they start sleeping in the same bed. Whatever this is, it’s still fresh and new and neither of really know where it will go.

He’s convinced it’s a mistake that he’s taking advantage off, but Molly doesn’t seem to mind. The fact that he doesn’t mind only serves to make Caleb feel guiltier, but never enough to end this tentative thing between them.

“Are you coming to bed or are you planning to study for the rest of the night, Mister Caleb?” a quiet voice calls from the bed, a little peeved but mostly sleepy.

Taking another minute to finish the last glyph, he closes the book and turns around to see Molly squinting at him, struggling to keep his eyes open in the late hours. “Ja, I am finished now, Mollymauk.”

Caleb quickly strips down to his small clothes, shivering slightly at the biting night air. He pointedly ignores the sleepy but appreciative growl. “So sexy, Caleb,” Molly calls with a soft laugh that _doesn’t_ warm his heart.

Rolling his eyes, he walks over to the bed and crawls in to find it warm and welcoming. Hands immediately pull him a little closer and he considers his actions for a moment before sliding a foot between the tiefling’s bare calves, earning him an indignant yelp.

“You’re bloody _freezing_!” Molly hisses, kicking his foot away, his tail giving it a light slap for good measure. “Gods’ sake, can’t you warm yourself up with your magic or something first?”

“There are faster ways to warm up,” Caleb replies, suppressing a smile. “I have read that tieflings are supposed to run at higher temperatures than humans.”

“Just one of the many things we’re good for, huh? Come here,” Molly grumbles and pulls him closer until he’s directly on top of the tiefling. He can feel his skin warming at the contact already. Hands card through his hair and pull him down for a long, searing kiss. “Now that you’ve woken me up, there are _much_ better ways to warm up.”

Caleb isn’t about to argue that point.

Later that night, curled around the tiefling, he feels Molly’s tail wrap snugly around his wrist and smiles to himself. Whatever this is, he wouldn’t mind if it lasts just a little longer.

\--

With his keen mind there to remind him of everything that’s wrong, he can’t help but fixate on that limp, lifeless tail dragging across the ground as the cat’s paw carefully moves the body towards the hole it just dug. There’s a thick lump in his throat and it feels like he might lose his ability to breathe at any second now as he continues staring.

Mollymauk doesn’t stare back, doesn’t respond, his glassy red eyes turned to the sky, unseeing.

They place his body on the tapestry that lines the bottom of the grave and sit around him. Caleb brushes the hair out of his face and leaves him a note that he hopes will be read. And then he glances down to the tail that had been wrapped comfortingly around his arm just a mere hour ago.

Taking the appendage in his hand with reverence and care, he wraps it around Molly’s wrist. Beau spares him a questioning glance through her tears and he merely tells her, his voice rough and thick, “It brings him comfort when he is sleeping.”

She nods and they finish the burial, leaving that colourful coat hanging off the flimsy grave marker he put up. Everything about their makeshift funeral hurt, but none more so than leaving Mollymauk behind.

That night, try as he might, sleep doesn’t find him. There’s a warmth missing from his side. Even with Nott curled up against him, all he sees when he closes his eyes is a beautiful lavender tiefling lying alone and abandoned beneath the ground.

\--

Molly has nightmares.

Caleb can hardly blame him after everything he’s been through. At night, when the dreams flare up, he whimpers and writhes, and his tail lashes about in agitation and all they can do is wake him up and hold and comfort him as he trembles.

He’s improved tremendously since they first brought him to the house. There’s more inflection in his voice now, and he looks around and asks questions instead of simply nodding along with that vacant stare. He can hold short conversations on his own and doesn’t go out of his way his hide from visitors anymore. While it’s not much, it’s so much more than what they had coming back from the cave and infinitely more than what they had going in.

A few days ago, Molly finally felt a spark of happiness again and _smiled_ , shaky and tentative, and it sent the Mighty Nein into tears. Trying to coax it out, they took him out and introduced him to people around the marketplace. They redecorated his horns, and adorned his neck with pendants, but it was when they took him to the tailor and watched him run his hands over the different fabrics that that fleeting little smile returned to his lips.

Smiling to himself at the memory, he remembers Jester taking the lead and buying him a beautiful dark plum coat with gold lining inside. Then she proceeded to buy every colour of thread available in the store, much to the shopkeeper’s chagrin and profit. Piling his arms full of spools of thread, Jester promised to help him decorate his coat until it felt like _his_ , and overwhelmed and touched, all Molly could do was nod.

So the two of them have spent the last few days sewing under the lights of the rooftop garden and Molly seemed _content_ , a hint of that vibrant soul peeking out once more. And wanting to be close to their once-lost companion, the rest of them begin taking their pastimes to the roof. He and Beau do their research under the garden lights while Nott and Yeza tinker with a smaller alchemy set on the promise that they’ll be careful. Yasha helps Caduceus garden while Fjord simply sits back and watches the rest of them, occasionally roped in to help by Jester or Beau. And more than ever before, the house starts to feel like a _home_.

At night, Molly’s taken to alternating between his and Yasha’s beds, though sometimes Jester will claim him for a sleepover with her and Beau. That night, he’s partially hidden under Caleb’s covers, the spade of his tail dangling from the edge of the bed.

Finishing his research for the day, Caleb puts down his book and looks over at the sleeping tiefling. He remembers the fragile wisp of a soul, flinching away from icy flames, curled up and afraid, and he wonders if that’s how Molly still feels. As if sensing his gaze, Molly opens his eyes and blinks blearily at him. “Caleb? Did I dream again?”

He shakes his head and gets up, moving towards the bed. “Nein, not yet. Sorry for waking you. You have not been asleep very long, Mollymauk. I just finished my work.” Pulling back the covers, he crawls into bed and lifts the tiefling’s tail gently. “Did you know that you used to wrap your tail around people when you slept?”

“Yes, Yasha told me about it back in the circus,” Molly replies, and there it is again, his voice mostly blank—free of fondness, free of melancholy.

So empty for someone who used to be so full of life.

The thought makes him grimace a little.

But Caleb meant what he said.

He will wait and rejoice in the return of Mollymauk Tealeaf, whatever that entails. And he will continue to love the tiefling in whatever capacity he’s able.

“You don’t do that anymore,” Caleb says. “I think it used to bring you comfort. Would you like to try it?”

Molly seems to consider his words for a moment then slowly, he feels something wrap loosely around his arm. “Like this?”

“Ja, just like this,” he says quietly, settling down next to him. “Come, go back to sleep.”

Closing his eyes again, Molly nods and the tail tightens a little, more certain this time. “It’s nice. It’s a...warm feeling. Thank you, Caleb. Goodnight.”

He leans forward and places a kiss on the tiefling’s forehead. “Gute Nacht, Mollymauk.”

That night, Molly is warm in his arms and the nightmares don’t come for either of them.

**Author's Note:**

> I think there's one or two more bits to this series (that I can think of) but it'll have to be after WM Week because there're only so much I can write in a week lol. Feel free to send me prompt requests if you guys have other prompts you want to read for this series or anything else!


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